Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene
1792 portrait of Greene by John Trumbull
Nickname(s)	"The Savior of the South" "The Fighting Quaker"
Born	August 7 [O.S. July 27] 1742 Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British America
Died	June 19, 1786(1786-06-19) (aged 43) Mulberry Grove, Georgia, United States
Buried	Savannah, Georgia
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	Continental Army
Years of service	1775–1783
Rank	Major-General
Unit	Kentish Guards
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War See battles Siege of Boston Battle of Harlem Heights Battle of Fort Washington Battle of Trenton Battle of Brandywine Battle of Germantown Battle of Monmouth Battle of Rhode Island Battle of Springfield Battle of Guilford Court House Battle of Hobkirk's Hill Siege of Ninety-Six Battle of Eutaw Springs
Spouse(s)	Catharine Littlefield ​ ​ (m. 1774)​
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Major-General Nathanael Greene (August 7, [O.S. July 27] 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as one of George Washington's most talented and dependable officers, and is known for his successful command in the Southern theater of the conflict.

Born into a prosperous Quaker family in Warwick, Rhode Island, Greene became active in the colonial opposition to British revenue policies in the early 1770s and helped establish the Kentish Guards, a state militia unit. After the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord, the legislature of Rhode Island established an army and appointed Greene to command it. Later in the year, Greene became a general in the newly established Continental Army. Greene served under George Washington in the Boston campaign, the New York and New Jersey campaign, and the Philadelphia campaign before being appointed quartermaster general of the Continental Army in 1778.

In October 1780, Washington appointed Greene as the commander of the Continental Army in the southern theater, where he was involved in several engagements, primarily in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina. After taking command, Greene engaged in a successful campaign of guerrilla warfare against a numerically superior British force led by Charles Cornwallis. He gained several strategic victories at Guilford Court House, Hobkirk's Hill, and Eutaw Springs, eroding British control over the American South.

Major fighting on land came to an end following the surrender of Cornwallis at the siege of Yorktown in October 1781, but Greene continued to serve in the Continental Army until late 1783. After the war, he settled down to a career as a plantation owner in Georgia, but his rice crops were mostly a failure. He died in 1786 at the Mulberry Grove Plantation in Chatham County, Georgia. Numerous locations in the United States are named for him.